Immigrants who grew up in the United States after being brought here illegally as children were among close to 200 demonstrators who gathered Thursday outside a federal courthouse in New Orleans, where three appellate judges heard arguments over the Biden administration's policy shielding them from deportation .
At stake in the long legal battle playing out at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the future of about 535,000 people who have long-established lives in the U.S., even though they don't hold citizenship or legal residency status and they could eventually be deported.
"I live here. I work here. I own a home here," said Maria Rocha-Carrillo, 37. She traveled from her home in New York to join the demonstration and was on the front row of a packed courtroom as the hearing started. She said she was brought to the U.S. at age 3 when family members immigrated from Mexico, where she was born. She could not get a teaching certificate until the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program allowed her to build a career in education.
Opponents of DACA weren't in evidence among the demonstrators. But opponents, chiefly Texas and eight other Republican-dominated states, have said in court arguments and legal briefs that they incur hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs when immigrants are allowed to remain in the country illegally.
As the hourlong hearing opened, Brian Boynton, arguing for the Biden administration, said the states have no standing to sue because they have demonstrated no harm caused by DACA. He said his argument is bolstered by Supreme Court decisions made since the 5th Circuit heard and rejected that contention in 2022.
